30 Doa #17: Interrelations

17. How does this deity relate to other gods and other pantheons? Lore-wise, there’s not much to connect Wayland to other pantheons, other than the references to him being “greatest of elves” and then his associations with his swan wife (possible Aesir connection?). God-wise, he is named as the brother of Egil, who is sometimes considered a god amongst modern Heathens (this brings up the interesting question of the distinction between gods and heroes, but for the purposes of this post, we’ll consider them one and the same). Wandering into UPG Land, there is his connection to Loki, but again that’s not necessarily something that can be supported in the lore.

As to interacting with other pantheons, as I have mentioned before, Wayland does not seem to mind being honored alongside other gods (or at least the ones native to Wales and England); that being said, I do tend to honor my gods individually rather than all at once, so perhaps the issue has never come up? In any case, he has never objected to being part of a practice that involves more than one pantheon, and in fact stayed with me after I finished my explorations of Heathenry and returned to Druidry full time.